Dreamworks vs Aardman: The Troubled Partnership

Long ago, the workers of Aardman worked together in harmony. But then, everything changed when Dreamworks attacked...
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[@roberttreacy8271]

7:53 “Just because a film is not a colossal blockbuster doesn’t mean it’s a failure.” THANK YOU! I always thought this too, and I wish someone would tell this to other movie studios.

[@cimengngialah2735]

You can say the same thing with Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney…

[@lexramstudios1386]

no wonder they didn't make an Over the Hedge 2 movie

[@cimengngialah2735]

@@lexramstudios1386 TBH, I’ve never heard of Over the Hedge until 2018. It does seem like a pretty good movie. Yet it seems forgotten in the shuffle compared to Kung fu Panda, Shrek, and Madagascar. A Bug’s Life falls into the same category.

[@lexramstudios1386]

@@cimengngialah2735 if this movie gotten a sequel long ago it would have been a franchise

[@Thomasmemoryscentral]

*Stares angrily over at Jeffrey Katzenberg pulling all advertisement for The Rescuers Down Under because the film didnt pull in the opening boxoffice numbers he wanted*

[@MaxwellCartoons]

Aardman is honestly one of my top 10 animation studios! It's a shame that people don't pay much attention to them anymore. Also for those who are wondering, Flushed Away was done in CG due to the studio catching on fire.

[@skateboardstudioinc578]

And real water would damage the puppets

[@animatedaj7208]

I wonder if Aardman are going to be making a sequel to Flushed Away?

[@FriedFrogLegsAnimations]

@Katie Lewis I agree I'm a 2d animator and stop motion animator

[@ulfingvar1]

Not paying attention to them anymore? What the fuck are you smoking? And Flushed Away was animated by Dreamworks, even though it was a Aardman production. It had nothing to do with the fire..

[@DoraemonFan-ww3jm]

Ouch.

[@TCMACK]

0:38 I’d argue that the finger prints add to the charm.

[@PopsukFun]

DreamWorks: Wallace is supposed to be American and we're going to be replacing Peter Sallis Aardman: no way Peter Sallis is the voice of Wallace we're going to be keeping him

[@BriceGum138]

As an American, even I know that decision will never work.

[@kwproductions6737]

American Wallace's cursed

[@scubaagent5834]

I feel like The Pirates is one of the most underrated films ever. For a kids movie it is still enjoyable to watch. Sadly I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it. It could be that I’m from the U.S. and Aardman is U.K. based, but I feel like it should get more attention.

[@RoninCatholic]

One of my favorite animated movies, and I actually saw it in theaters.

[@belnonaodh1520]

I've read Aardman's book "an Epic Journey, One Frame at a Time" and you're absolutely right with Flushed Away having Dreamworks meddling - to an extent that dwarfs Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Ware Rabbit. According to the book, Dreamworks insisted that the film had to be made in CGI to compete with Pixar's Ratatouille which was in development at the same time. Due to this, Aardman, an animation company, had to give the film to be animated in California by Dreamworks since Aardman didn't have any CGI animators. The main character Roddy also had these two butler characters in the trailers, which Dreamworks insisted to be scrapped too. (I'm actually a little in favour of this, because having butlers would likely undermine the theme of Roddy's loneliness without friends, but I would have preferred it to be Aardman's call to make) I will be the first to admit that Aardman's films haven't seen the sales that they deserve since they've broken up with Dreamworks, but I wouldn't necessarily call them failures. Mostly because, in terms of quality, these films are some of the best animated films to come out in their respective years! Arthur Christmas, the Shaun the Sheep Movie, Early Man, and Pirates on an Adventure with Scientists are infinitely rewatchable and only seem to get better every time! A lot of these films often make up their losses by putting the characters in adverts in the UK, too. That being said, I would be lying if I said I didn't have some concern with Aardman in its current state. Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon was the first Aardman film that I felt was exclusively a kid's film with no adult appeal at all, and it was even more of a box office loss than Early Man. The Chicken Run sequel had been delayed for several years, and is starting to look like Half Life 3 to me. Sure, you can blame the COVID pandemic, but the idea of such a good self-contained story as Chicken Run having a sequel doesn't seem to have anyone excited anyway. The fact that it's coming out excusive to Netflix - especially with Netflix's reputation for treatment of animation - doesn't seem like they have that much faith in the film performing well. Whatever happens, I wish Aardman the best of luck and will probably keep watching whatever they put out!

[@roberttreacy8271]

Aardman never fails to amuse me, whether their films are short or feature length.

[@BeTheHero905]

Their movies are so good, it’s a shame they aren’t as successful now just because they ended their partnership with dreamworks

[@TheDerpyBoi]

Other than Shaun the Sheep right?

[@RoninCatholic]

As a kid I didn't want to watch Flushed Away because I assumed it was just going to be potty humor. Bought the DVD for five bucks a few years ago and was thoroughly entertained, glad I gave it a shot (Over the Hedge too, which I bought around the same time and likewise overlooked as a kid because of the commercials).

[@dylanlewis5113]

"Chicken Run" is one of my favorite childhood movies. It blew my mind when I learned that it was basically a kid version of "The Great Escape". Would "Chicken Run 2" be a kid version of "Inglorious Basterds"?

[@edenanimates1465]

Let’s say Dreamworks became nightmare works when they dared to make Wallace and gromit more American

[@magnetoonproductions9541]

Curse of the Were Rabbit isn’t the first UK film to struggle through executive meddling. Thomas and the Magic Railroad was screwed because of test audiences and important scenes got cut out, causing the story to fall flat.

[@JosephRailwayStudios2000]

True and not to mention when Harry Potter and the philosopher stone was in development it had a character that was cut from the final film.

[@masterknife8423]

I'm pretty sure that film was aimed at an American audience from the start. I mean it's called Thomas and the magic RAILROAD after all

[@thattylerguy2104]

Aardman have something many companies don't have anymore. Love and soul. Every fingerprint you see is the fingerprint of someone who stood there for hours to make that 1 little scene

[@BrennySpain]

Don’t forget Sony pictures animation partnered with Aardman for 2 movies, the aforementioned pirates band of misfits and Arthur Christmas. Seriously the latter took forever to come out on dvd over here. Like 12 months after release at least!

[@alisonsouter8788]

I feel bad for aardman that they had to deal with dreamworld meddling and demands, though I’m not surprised that dreamworks did that, considering one of the Founders is the same idiots that demanded to Pixar that they make toy story more edgy, resulting in the disastrous Black Friday reel that not only almost got toy story canceled but maybe Pixar in general would’ve been canned too. I love the films that dreamworks did with aardman, (even flushed away, which does have its share of those typical dreamworks twitches like some pop culture jokes, a bit of low brow humour and pop music, but the way I see it, those elements don’t go overboard unlike a few other dreamworks films like shark tale and home and i think aardman’s charm made the typical dreamworks jokes work really well, plus it was my favourite aardman film until I saw Arthur Christmas) but it probably was for the best that they split.

[@Natalie_Milana7]

I actually want them to reunite someday! DreamWorks and Aardman could be the biggest rivals to Disney and Pixar!

[@kwproductions6737]

No DreamWorks clearly doesn't respect aardman British nature and style of making films

[@Tomurow]

Sean the Sheep is probably the peak of Aardman's feature-length movies so far. It's just so... simple. And that's what makes it so appealing. Also, Arthur Christmas is brilliantly conceived and executed - a real Christmas classic. Were-Rabbit has some great moments but ultimately feels a little stretched compared to to tight, punchy and inventive W&G shorts. Also, I believe Nick Park said working with Dreamworks actually made them better storytellers, which I can believe - so not all bad.

[@MochaFrap4]

i wasn't born when any of these films came out, but i did watch Wallace and Gromit the curse of the were rabbit in 3rd grade, and that's when i started to watch more of it and getting closer to the aardman films.

[@MochaFrap4]

I also did watch Chicken Run and Flushed away, i give Chicken run a 9.5/10, pretty good film, and Flushed away, it was ok, i give it like a 7.5/10

[@lemon.1036]

I do remember Pixar kindly did a collaborative with Aardman for Gromit Unleashed. A public charity art trail across the streets of Bristol, featuring a bunch of Gromit sculptures. Were painted by different 80 artists/studios, including Pixar. They create Buzz Lightyear-theme Gromit. Probably the only time where Pixar work with Dreamworks together ironically.

[@TheGhost-rp3ko]

Well as of now, there is news of Aardman making a new Wallace and Gromit movie

[@JacobFiveash]

The slugs were okay in my opinion.

[@raelogan]

The moment you said "4Kids Entertainment", I immediately thought "... Oh, no."

[@snbsixteen6stars201]

Also my face kinda crunched when you said DreamWorks thought this is too british Look this is my problem with American business in animation Just let europian movies be europian, Dont redub it it to make it America, let british movies be british

[@kwproductions6737]

As someone who lives in Britain and wants to make cartoons I really don't want American exact saying I'm too British and I should americanize my vision the fact it's British Australian or Chinese it's charm stop americanizing it

[@ryanbarth6691]

Just like what Mattel did with Thomas and fireman Sam

[@HazmanFTW]

2:55 I think you mean the chickens don't want to be pies because they don't like gravy. 4:45 it was still Peter Sallis who voiced Wallace in Curse of the Ware Rabbit.

[@ladysman21751]

Have you seen Aardman's Stage Fright? That short is really disturbing and I was terrified of it when I was younger.

[@bridgetteovertroubledwater5395]

I think he has given that he used clips from it in the video.

[@-Pr1ce.wav-]

I saw that film 2 weeks ago, it was pretty good. And kinda creepy tbh

[@BrennySpain]

I wonder how the Netflix and Aardman partnership is going. Both the upcoming chicken run sequel and new Wallace and Gromit movie will release on there eventually.

[@ulfingvar1]

I think they work beautifully. Netflix are smart enough not to mess with Aardman's style..

[@MarioSonicPhillyFan700]

My favorite movie that DreamWorks and Aardman did together was Flushed Away

[@kirstijohnson8555]

same

[@piefatal]

I have yet to watch every movie that dream works and aardman made but I’d have to say that flushed away is my favorite one so far

[@callum110597]

While it's for the best Aardman didn't work for DreamWorks, so they can have more unique humour in their movies, I still happen to admire the three movies they did. Of course, I absolutely love Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I also do love Flushed Away. (The slugs are personally some of my favourite characters, beside Roddy and Rita.) But one thing I definitely learnt from this video, is that Early Man was meant to The Croods! Wow. I know they were both cavemen movies, but I didn't think they were planned by DreamWorks and Aardman!

[@seanalailima5929]

A high pitched sped up instrumental of Master of Disguise from LazyTown is used when explaining about Chicken Run. Starting at 3:11.

[@edenanimates1465]

I knew that tune sounded familiar

[@laziestartistever8422]

I personally think "Flushed Away" was pretty good, but yeah I CAN DEFINATELY see that there were some executive meddling in the process of making the movie. Plot is nice, in my own opinion (nostalgia and all, i adored this movie and Curse of a Were-rabbit a lot as child, so much apparently that i was able to watch Flushed Away ON REPEAT, no joking here, folks), but some jokes/moments are VERY OFF, especially for Aardman. If you watched the movie, you know what i mean, 'cause it really stands out. Buut, there are still a lot of creativity and care put into this film, and it pretty clear. The Rat-sewer city has so much little details in it, the score, voice acting (Thanks, Hugh Jackman), also I counted like 10 Wallace And Gromit easter eggs. I kinda wish there was a sequel... since creators talked a bit about it on the commentary, it's just interesting what they would have came up for it. Like, the first idea for "Flushed Away" was about rat pirates in the sewers under London + in some deleted scenes Rita mentions that her grand goal/dream is a trip around the Europe (it was entirely cut) ... maybe some ideas could have been reused...? Who knows, i am just speculating.

[@ratedr7845]

Oh, you're right, flushed away was originally about pirates, but the executive meddling made them change it, they wanted to make a pirate for a long time, but they finally had their film in pirated bands of misfits

[@orangeslash1667]

@@ratedr7845 I'm amazed that Dreamworks teamed up with Aardman to begin with. I think Disney and Pixar has more in common Aardman than Dreamworks. Wallace and Grommit is very simple and whimsical, where as Dream works try too hard to have an edge.

[@kirstijohnson8555]

i completely agree especially on the sequel part, when i was a kid i wanted a sequel to flushed away so bad i’m surprised i didn’t try to make my own myself with the mcdonald’s toys, hell i’d still love a sequel even now at 21 years old

[@LaZavionSoda]

Flushed Away is admittedly a nostalgic movie to me, I remember watching it a lot when I was a toddler, so it holds a special place in my heart.

[@mightyfilm]

The Croods wasn't exactly going to be Early Man, but it was going to be based on a script by John Cleese and it was originally going to be called"Crood Awakening." That said, it's very easy to see why Early Man was a massive failure over here. There was no way to market the film that mentioned the true story of the film, as there was no way it was going to appeal to an American audience. The film's message is essentially "Britain invented soccer, so why do they suck at it? That's no fair!" Even the home video release goes out of its way to hide the soccer storyline. The movie wasn't made for us, but they decided to release it here anyway, and I'm grateful for that.

[@robbiewalker2831]

I actually like Early Man. The film itself makes me think of the Animal Football scene from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

[@adampkalb]

Then my mom and I were lucky to have watched Early Man when it was out in the United States.

[@mightyfilm]

@@adampkalb Including me, that's at least three tickets sold. Plus, let's face it, stop motion doesn't get the respect it once did. They just don't make money anymore, and not only because of something niche like Early Man, but even big name Tim Burton's Frankenweenie was a box office disappointment.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@mightyfilm To be fair a lot of people were disappointed that Early Man is caveman playing sports, rather what we expect from caveman.

[@mightyfilm]

@@orangeslash1667 That's why over here the advertising, and even the home video releases, obscured ANY reference to what the plot was really about. I don't follow my own country's sports, so anything about European Futbol was mostly lost on me, though I got the overall gist of the references they were making. Still, a hard film to market when they can only show like 1/3 of the movie.

[@Eisenwald64]

The "middle ground" appears to be Netflix, going by their latest release, but only time will tell for sure. I did hear that Katzenberg did regret the whole "blockbuster or nothing" mentality during DreamWorks Animation's 2014 restructuring...

[@jasminespinoza7120]

Ardman and DreamWorks should get along

[@wallygator92]

Now Aardman is working with Netflix.

[@ThatRetroGuy2005]

That wallace and gromit firm is basically sonic x dub in a nutshell

[@landonduncan7128]

Had no idea about DreamWorks stealing Aardman's ideas/script in order to make The Croods. That's messed up on so many levels.

[@IsabellaCataldo]

Just curious, what’s your favorite DreamWorks movie? Mine is probably Rise of the Guardians.

[@JacobFiveash]

My favorites are Captain Underpants, Monsters V.S Aliens, Shrek, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie and Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

[@alisonsouter8788]

Isabella Cataldo mine too! Some of my other favourites are megamind, the films they did with aardman, all three Madagascar films, the first two Kung fu panda films, and the first two shrek films!

[@marcusblackwell2372]

Kung Fu Panda 2, The Croods & Turbo for the moment

[@superstarultra28]

My favorites are Shrek 1, Megamind, and Captain Underpants.

[@michaelmcjunkin1372]

My favorites are Shrek 1, 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 2 and 3, how to Train your Dragon, Prince of Egypt, and Chicken Run.

[@fnaf6491]

I'm not even From The UK and I F**ing love Wallace and Gromit

[@georgerobertson7010]

Since dreamworks considered replacing Peter sallis (the voice of Wallace) with a celebrity, would you strangle them with your bare hands if they actually did do that?

[@mediamementosofficial]

No. That’s Murder.

[@georgerobertson7010]

Media Mementos I personally think replacing peter sallis as Wallace is a horrible choice, how would you like it if they made Brad Pitt voice spongebob or if they had Robert Downey Jr play Mickey Mouse.

[@mediamementosofficial]

That’s still not something to end a person’s life over.

[@georgerobertson7010]

Media Mementos that’s true

[@ulfingvar1]

Aardman has been doing very well without Dreamworks, thank you. Ever heard of Shaun The Sheep?

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

My favorite Aardman shorts are the Penny cartoons on Pee-Wee's Playhouse

[@jarekmiller4337]

To me, it’s nostalgic when Dreamworks and Aardman worked together in the past. No matter how they performed in theaters, Curse of the Were Rabbit and Flushed Away were still great movies that deserved better in theaters overall.

[@gadgettherobotstudios6055]

The screaming slugs used to scare the F out of me when I was little

[@thehunterator520]

4:47 when you said now, did you mean as of 2020 or when curse of the were-rabbit came out, because Wallace was still played by Peter Sallis for that movie?

[@-Pr1ce.wav-]

I like Aardman better for it's effort and it's stories in general. And if your curious, my favorite film of Aardman is Shaun the sheep.

[@chickensrock7713]

Shaun the Sheep is great!

[@tiagopaulo3999]

DreamWorks and Aardman Movies (2000-2006): - Chicken Run (2000) - Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - Flushed Away (2006)

[@BaboDex]

Have you heard of Rex the Runt? It was made by Aardman.

[@joevictor53]

I feel like Aardman should stick to short films or TV shows. I feel like that works best for them. I'm a big fan of theirs and I loved Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts and I've watched them all several times. I like Pirates but I watched it once and never went back to it. I thought the Shaun the Sheep movie was hilarious but I only watched it once. Early Man and Shaun the sheep 2 I have no real interest in watching. I just feel they work so much better with a shorter running time. Although shout out to the one outlier - Arthur Christmas. Watch that every single year. It's my new Christmas classic similar to Elf

[@mariobabbo3497]

Around 2000, Aardman develop The Tortoise and The Hare. But it never happened because of script troubles and it was delayed multiple times being originally scheduled for 2002 but was delayed to the holiday season 2003 then the summer of 2004.

[@brohugproductions2005]

I feel like their partnership ended after Universal Studios bought DreamWorks

[@brianblumenreich9026]

It's too bad that Aardman and DreamWorks Animation's relationship was tumultuous.

[@KoopaKool12]

Were getting another Wallace And Gromit movie in 2024 and Dreamworks is out. It will be streaming on Netflix so hopfully its good!

[@ryanbarth6691]

In 2012 aardman teamed up with Sony pictures animation and created The pirates band of misfits

[@ilovelegos2000]

It's kind of a shame everytime I mention some of the aardman movies to my friends like chicken run and Wallace & gromit they have no clue what those movies are.

[@ShnobbsReal]

Man. This is awesome.

[@edenanimates1465]

This is basically the video that introduced me to media mementos Also I like this voiceover host (I dunno what he’s called)

[@mediamementosofficial]

Thank you! That would be me, Trevor! And I'm glad this is the one that helped you find me. This is one of the early videos of mine that I think still holds up really well.

[@JaylaLife14]

Flushed Away is not bad it’s the most awesomeness movie ever and it’s the best CGI movie

[@rachelm7413]

You didn't mention Arthur Christmas! I know it was a collaboration with Sony, but its still Aardman and maybe my favorite film of theirs

[@mediamementosofficial]

That’s why. It’s not part of the Dreamworks lineup.

[@spydersoup8447]

@@mediamementosofficial Even so, it still wasn't a big hit either.

[@lydiajulianprower8356]

I really love that film, but it doesn't fit here.

[@katelynthewhitewerewolf6376]

I like Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit.

[@JacobFiveash]

Do you like Dreamworks Animation?

[@NathanielCanty-wp7fp]

I mean after Wallace and Gromit a close shave in 1995 and the success of the 3 Wallace and Gromit cartoons including a close shave Aardman wanted to take it up a notch with doing a theatrical release of a movie called Chicken Run but they needed somebody like Dreamworks to distribute the film as Dreamworks was looking for their version of Pixar after the unsuccessful Antz movie by PDI because it was a rip off of Disney and Pixar’s a bug’s life so Dreamworks gave up with the PDI stuff for a little while and did 2d animated movies like the prince of Egypt and the road to el dorado but when they partnered up with Aardman and released Chicken run they founded their own Pixar until 2001 when they released Shrek with PDI and unlike Antz Shrek was successful to the point they didn’t need Aardman anymore but they still used them for Wallace and Gromit curse of the were rabbit in 2005 and then they tried to do their own shrek by using both the cgi animation of Dreamworks and the art style of Aardman to create flushed away in 2006 however Aardman had another idea of a movie to do with dreamworks about caveman however Aardman broke the deal with Dreamworks and Dreamworks later took that idea and made the croods in 2013 also Wallace and Gromit a matter of loaf and death was going to be another theatrical movie but they just kept as another episode due to having no movie distributer until Sony pictures animation in 2011 with Arthur’s Christmas and the pirates an adventure with scientists

[@camerongreenwoodcrampakacgc.]

I love Aardman. Especially Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run. The Wrong Trousers is my favourite Wallace And Gromit Film and the first Chicken Run is my favourite.

[@spydersoup8447]

Wow, and I thought Harvey Weinstein was infamous for always pulling off this sorta stunt all the time no matter what, only for it to end with something that you guys already know about him at this point. It always infuriates me that so many companies always force studios to mold certain shows, films and games into their liking thinking that if it's in their liking, then it will automatically be a success. It always frustrates me about big companies always doing this, even though it clearly doesn't work at all, even today. They never bother to take Disney and Pixar's example of how if you put in effort and a lot of love and care into your projects, then you'll earn more money from it this way, this saying here has been proven by some of Disney and Pixar's films where they put in love and care into them and understand what audiences want, and some of those films have managed to make 1 billion dollars at the box office, something that people once thought was impossible. This is very sad if you see this.

[@valenzuelasstudios1838]

Disney and Pixar films are also guilty of executive meddling and unnecessary molding like Frozen 2

[@spydersoup8447]

@@valenzuelasstudios1838 Mostly, it was during the early 2000s when Michael Eizener was the CEO of Disney.

[@valenzuelasstudios1838]

@@spydersoup8447 Frozen 2 came out in 2019 -_- and it wasn't an exception either

[@therokafanexplosion3151]

Great vid but chicken run was originally published by pathe in Europe and the uk. Then a year later by dremworks across the world.

[@thelooneypirate]

Sony did with Arthur Christmas and pirates

[@SonicTheHedgehogCommentaries]

The Zack Snyder cut? Nah, more like the Park&Box cut. Since according to google curse of the were rabbit was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box (Not being mean.

[@MarcusThe894]

Chicken run 2 is already out.

[@ryanbarth6691]

Can you do a video on Laika animation

[@snarkus63]

From the very beginning, I've never had a high opinion of Dreamworks... for God's sakes, their first CGI feature was a baldfaced attempt to steal thunder away from a then-not-yet-released Pixar film! Except for the Kung Fu Panda trilogy and Rise Of The Guardians, I was so consistently disappointed with their CGI features, I gave up on them years ago. I managed to see both Shaun The Sheep and Early Man theatrically... I liked both but neither played in our local theaters for very long.

[@iim4xii129]

Your opinions on Flushed Away and Wallace & Gromit 4 are rather... disturning. I didn't want to say this, but... I disagree with you. On both counts.

[@mediamementosofficial]

Sorry to hear that.

[@ChickenStudios77]

I like Aardman way better than DreamWorks

[@daniellebaskin4533]

No WALLAce and gromit trailer 2025

[@ImJustARandomCommenter]

you sound like Donut from BFDIA

[@cerealjam]

I consider early men to be there weakest tbh

[@bringbackpbskidsgo4562]

DreamWorks should reunite with Aardman because of the clay shortage problem. Who's with me?

[@reinaldothecringemaster3728]

Hello I have like the video

[@snbsixteen6stars201]

I hate pirates!!!